Fishing contests, typically referred to as “tournaments,” allow anglers to compete against one other in trying to catch the longest or heaviest fish, or collection of fish, over a given period of time. Traditionally, such tournaments are held in a fixed location, and the fish are killed in order to allow them to be measured or weighed at the end of the contest. Recently, however, there has been significant interest in “catch and release” fishing, in which an angler returns a fish to the water alive after catching it. To conduct a tournament in which the fish are not killed, however, requires evidence of the size of the fish, such as a photograph. In addition, it would be desirable to hold a tournament in which participants may be remote from one another, and/or where the organization and direction of the tournament is remote from the participants.
U.S. Patent Application No. US 2003/0115265 (“Kitade”) discloses a system and method for holding a location-independent fishing competition in which a sponsor of the competition communicates with participants via the Internet to organize and direct the contest. The participants register for a tournament held during a specific time period by transmission of data over the Internet. After the fishing period is over, they then submit digital images of fish before a predetermined deadline to be compared with those of other participants. To ensure that the image was taken during the fishing period, an “article of certification” must also be shown in the image. The article of certification is an object of a specific type that is designated by the sponsor, and the identity of which is provided to the participants at the outset of the fishing period.